Etymology

devious

de·vi·ous
D2E1V4I1O1U1S1

Today it means: Cunning or deceiving, not straightforward or honest, not frank. Full definition →

Latin devius
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The story

  1. Latin · borrowed fromdevius“out of the way, remote, off the main road”
  2. English todaydevious

1590s, "out of the common or direct way," from Latin devius (“out of the way, remote, off the main road”), from de via, from de (“off”) (see de-) + via (“way, road”). Compare deviate. Originally in the Latin literal sense; the figurative sense of "deceitful" is first recorded 1630s. Related to deviously, deviousness. Figurative senses of the Latin word were "retired, sequestered, wandering in the byways, foolish, inconsistent."

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.